Aerial toy.



Patented vFeb. Il, |902.

n. w. MELVILLE.

. AERIAL TUY. (Applieion med Aug. 24, 1899.)

(No Model.)

W//ve SSES @915,

TNE Naam: PETER: oo.. PHUToLITHO.. wnsnlomu. uy c,

3 5 scribed and claimed.

I UNITED STATES PATENT Ormes.-

GEORGE lV. MELVILLE, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. l

AERIAL TOY.

'sPEcFIcATIoNforming part of Letters Patentv No. 693,297, dated February 1 1, .1902, Appunti@ mea August 24. 1899. sein No. 728,341. (Namen.)

Z @ZZ whom, t mafycowcrn:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. MELVILLE, l of the United States Navy, residing atWashington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Aerial Toys; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains '1o to make and use the same.

t i; any other flying animal or insect.

The invention consists generally in the provvision of a simple and positively-acting combined ascensional and projectile mechanism by which an object may be made to ascend 2`o and to be propelled in a substantially hori- Izontal plane, and, further, ifY desired, in the provision of means to act adjunctively with the projectile mechanism to aid in giving direction to the object while in ilight and when 2 5 the ascensional force of power is spent to operate adj unctively with the ascensional mechyanism to retard and thus to minimize the descensional force of the object, thereby not only to break the fall of the object, but also mains in Hight.

The invention consists, specifically, in the novel construction and combination of parts of a iiying toy, as will be hereinafter fully dego to prolong the time in which the object re- In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and in which like letters of reference indicate corresponding vparts, I have illustrated a form of embodi- .lo ment of vmy invention, together with several forms of actuating mechanism therefor, it being understood that other forms of embodiment-both -of the device and its actuating mechanism may be employed without departing from the spirit of the invention, and in these drawings- Y v Figure lis aview in perspective elevation,- displaying a `flying object, in this instance the representation of a bird, together with the 5o actuating mechanism therefor, the object being shown as ready to be projected. Fig. 2 isa View in front elevation, displaying the object asit appears whendescending. Figs. 3

andy 4 aredetail views, partlyin section, displaying different forms of mechanism that may be employed for spinning up or imparting mechanical motion to the'operative mech anism of the object. Fig. 5isza .perspective detail View of a device for holding the object to be projected that may be. employed in lieu of the devices shownin Figs.`3 and 4. Fig. Gis a detail view of thdri'ving-mechanism.' e Referring to the drawings, A designates the body of the flying object, in this instance a bird, which body may be made of any substance suited to the purpose and possessing the requisite strength and likeness-' as, for instance, of very thin rolled sheet metal stamped or otherwise formed to the required shape, of prepared papier-mch, of com; pressed paper or wood pulp, or even of ordinary papersuitably sized or stiened. The body will of course .be formed in sections and in being assembled may, when the sections are of metal, be held together by rivets,

by overlapped seams, or by solder. Whenthe body is of papier-mch, of pulp, or of ordinary paper, the sections may be held together byglue or by any suitable adhesive. Within the body is secured a frame a, preferably rectangular in shape, and supported partly-by thisframe and partly bythe body of theobject are two shafts a2 athe former of which carries the ascensionallpropeller a4 and the latter ,the proj ectile-propeller` d5; The two shafts are mechanically connected by miter-gears a6 a7, keyed or otherwise secured to their respective shafts, and in order to prevent undue frictional contact between the two gears thel shaft co2 is provided with a collar a?, which bears upon a boss a9 on the top member of the fra-me u., as shown in Fig. 6, and thereby holds the two gears in easy mesh. The body of the object may be provide with wings uw, secured tothe body by hinges d, these wings4 when the body is, ascending to remain closed against the body, as shown i-n Fig. 1, thus to obviate the presentationof an,

obstruction to free upward flight, but when the object begins to descend to open out, as shown in Fig. 2, and to act adj unctively with the propeller 0,4 to retard descentof the obj ect.

The rotation of the shaft cmaybe edected either manually or mechanically. In I1`ig.-1

IOO

the simplest form of motion-imparting mechanisln is shown. This consists of a handle B, carrying a hollow thimble b, provided with a lateral slot or opening b2 and a seat b3. To impart motion to the shaft with this form of device, a cord b4 is wound upon that portion of the shaft within the spindle, the lower end of the shaft resting on the seat b3, as shown in Fig. l. By holding the handle in a vertical position and quickly drawing out the cord the shaft will be rapidly spun and the two propellers will at once be actuated to lift and to project the object.

In lieu of the device shown in Fig. l that shown in Fig. 5 may be employed in manually actuating the shaft. This second form of device consists of a handle B, provided with a bifurcated hook b5, between the members of which the cord b4 will pass. The operation of this form of device is the same as that shown in Fig. l, except that the handle is to be held in a horizontal position.

In Fig. 3 a mechanical motion-imparting device is shown. 'Ihis consists of a handle B, carrying a casing Z9, in which is housed an ordinary clock-spring bi, the cap bs of the casing being loosely mounted therein and having one end of the spring secured thereto, the other end of which is secured to a boss b9, projecting from the bottom of the casing. The cap is formed with a hollow boss bl, provided with a plurality of openings bu to be engaged by the end of a trigger Z912, carried by the casing. The lower end of the shaft a2 is provided with a slot having a cam-surface al?, the wall of the slot being engaged bya projection 513, extending inward from the boss U0. lVhen the spring b7 is to be placed under tension, the lower end of the shaft a2 is inserted in the boss, as shown in Fig. 3, with the projection 1213 in engagement with the wall of the cam-slot blz. The shaft is then rotated bythe hand or otherwise, thus turning the cap 198, and thereby Winding up the spring. lVhen under sufficient tension the trigger is brought into engagement with one of the openings L11, thus holding the spring from unwinding. Upon release of the trigger the spring will rapidly unwind and spin up the shaft d?, the projection b, by riding down the cam-surface @12, operating automatically to free the shaft from the boss and thus release the object.

In Fig. 4: I show another form of mechanical motion-imparting device, wherein a simple coiled spring b is employed, the upper coil of which is to be engaged by the lower end of the shaft a2, which latter is provided with a slot als for the purpose. When the spring is wound up, itis depressed and gradually sinks into the thimble b at the upper end of the handle B, and thus permits the trigger Z912 to be brought into engagement with a shoulder a, provided on the shaft for the purpose. The operation of this form of device is the same as that shown in Fig. 3.`

In order to present proper counterpoise for the object, the shaft a2 is extended below the body of the object, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, or may be weighted, as shown in Fig. 4l.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. A iying toy provided with interiorlydisposed gearing adapted to operate ascensional and projectile propellers, means for communicating motion to such gearing, and means adapted to remain inoperative during ascension, but to automatically operate during descent to retard the fall of the object, substantially as described.

2. A iiying toy in form to represent a bird,

and provided with wings adapted, when the toy ascends, to lie against the sides of the body portion of the toy, and when the toy descends, to open out and thus retard descent, a frame secured within the body, shafts journaled in the frame and arranged at right angles to each other, each shaft carrying a miter-gear, the two to intermesh, an ascensional propeller carried by one of the shafts, and a projectile-propeller carried by the other shaft, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE W. MELVILLE.

W'itnesses:

WM. J. MURTAGH, R. M. ELLIo'r'r. 

